Tuesday, March 19th. Among the blessings of civilization are the broad availabilities of food and clothing, such that we don’t’ have to reflect on how this abundance is created in the first place. To celebrate this great human achievement, today […]
Monday, March 18th. FM radio is 78 years old this month. In 1941, the first commercial FM station went on the air — W47NV in Nashville, Tennessee. FM —standing for frequency modulation — was first proposed by Edwin Armstrong in […]
John Rock, A First Among Firsts Black History Month stories often celebrate Thurgood Marshall, a successful attorney who became the first black appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1967. The trail to that tribunal was broken over a century […]
Wednesday, January 30th. Early this month in 1967, the first fluoridation law in the country went into effect. Connecticut required fluoridation of public water supplies serving 20,000 or more population to combat tooth decay. The requirement was extended to the […]
Tuesday, January 29th. There have been 27 ratified amendments to the U.S. Constitution over the past 225-plus years, but that total comes with an asterisk. Uniquely, the 21st Amendment repeals the 18th, which began its short career this month in1919. […]
Sunday, January 27th. “To teach, to serve, and to inquire into the nature of things.” That’s the motto of the University of Georgia, which on this date in 1785 became the young nation’s first state-chartered university. Royally chartered private universities […]
Saturday, January 26th. On this date 36 years ago, the infant personal computer was empowered to become something much greater than a glorified word processor with the release of the spreadsheet program Lotus 1-2-3. The popular program drew acclaim as […]
Friday, January 25th. On this date in 1915, east and west were linked by voice in the first transcontinental phone call. This event was a conference call involving Alexander Graham Bell in New York, his assistant Thomas Watson in San […]
Thursday, January 24th. An invention that’s helped millions, but which no one really likes was patented this week in 1875—the electric dental drill. Those who dread the device should consider the primitive state of dental technology before George Green of […]
Monday, January 7th. During the Revolutionary War, the rebelling colonies and the Continental Congress were anything but too big to fail. To the contrary, finances were very spotty and precarious. To help put affairs in order and make credit available, […]
Wednesday, January 2nd. The place where many of our ancestors first stepped ashore when they came to America seeking a new life opened this month 127 years ago — Ellis Island in New York Harbor. The very first immigrant processed […]
Tuesday, January 1st. The nation’s telephone service options began expanding this month in 1982, when AT&T bowed to a Justice Department mandate to give up its local Bell System companies. The breakup became effective on this date 35 years ago, […]
Monday, December 31st. On this New Year’s Eve, some 329 million Americans of all ages and backgrounds are ready to greet the year 2019. A hundred years ago, the nation’s population was just a bit over 103 million. Fifty years […]
Saturday, December 1st. On this date in 1913, what is today the Gulf Oil Company opened the nation’s first drive-in gas station. Located at the intersection of Baum Boulevard and St. Clair Street in Pittsburgh, the filling station was a […]
Friday, November 30th. As American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month concludes, it’s worth noting that much of America’s population lives in states and towns with names derived from those originally given them by America’s first peoples. In fact, 26 […]
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